Believers! Remember the blessings God bestowed on you when hosts came down upon you. We let loose against them a windstorm and hosts that you could not see. Yet God sees all that you do.
They came upon you from above and from below you. Your eyes rolled (with fear) and your hearts leapt up to your throats, and confused thoughts about God passed through your minds. That was a situation when the believers were sorely tested and severely shaken. (The Confederates Al-Ahzab: 33: 9-11)
We mentioned last week that a delegation including a number of leading Jewish figures began its efforts to rally forces hostile to Islam into an alliance that aimed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Muslim community. This Jewish delegation traveled to meet the leaders of the Ghatafan, another leading Arabian tribe, and they urged them to fight the Prophet (peace be upon him), assuring them that they would be joining them as well as the Quraysh. The Ghatafan agreed and they all marshaled their forces. The Quraysh marched under the leadership of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, while the Ghatafan were led by Uyaynah ibn Hisn of the Fizarah clan, Al-Harith ibn Awf of Murrah and Misar ibn Rukhaylah of Ashja.
When the Prophet heard of what they had plotted, he ordered the digging of a moat to prevent their entrance into Madinah. The Prophet himself and his companions worked hard to dig the moat. However, a number of hypocrite men put little effort into the work. They would put up a show of working, but then sneak off, going back home, without asking permission from the Prophet. By contrast, if any good believer needed to leave for some urgent matter, he would mention this to the Prophet and ask his permission to absent himself for a while. The Prophet gave such people leave. Any of these would then go home, attend to the emergency and return, knowing that he would be rewarded by God for such work. Concerning the hypocrites who sneaked away God says: “Do not address God’s Messenger in the manner you address one another. God certainly knows those of you who would slip away surreptitiously. So, let those who would go against His bidding beware, lest some affliction or grievous suffering befall them.” (24: 63)
“When the Muslims had completed digging the moat, the Quraysh arrived and encamped at a place called Majma Al-Asyal near Rawmah. They numbered 10,000 including their slaves and affiliates as well as those who followed them from the people of Kinanah and Tihamah. The Ghatafan and their followers from Najd marched to their camping place near Uhud. The Prophet marshaled his troops, numbering 3,000, camping at a spot where their backs were to Mount Sala’, with the moat separating them from their attackers. He also ordered that the women and children should stay in sheltered homes.
Huyay ibn Akhtab, God’s enemy, went up to Kaab ibn Asad, the Rabbi of the Jewish tribe of Qurayzah, who had signed, on behalf of his tribe, a friendship treaty with the Prophet, pledging support to the Muslims. Huyay wanted him to break his treaty and join the attacking forces. He used all his powers of persuasion and brought much pressure to bear on Kaab, all of which culminated in a pledge of honor that should the Quraysh and Ghatafan withdraw without defeating Muhammad (peace be upon him), he would come and join Kaab in his fort and share his fate with him. At this point Kaab ibn Asad decided to join the attacking forces, thereby breaking his treaty with the Prophet.
“This was an extremely testing time for the believers. People were truly in fear of the outcome. The enemy was also preparing for a pincer attack from the front and the rear. Inevitably, the believers started to have all types of thoughts and doubts, while the hypocrites capitalized on the situation by speaking out against the Prophet. One of them, Mut’ib ibn Qushayr, said: “Muhammad used to promise us that we would eat of the treasures of the Persian and Byzantine Emperors, while today we feel unsafe to go to the toilet.” Another, Aws ibn Qayzi, said to the Prophet in front of a number of his clansmen: “Messenger of God! Our homes are vulnerable. So permit us to leave and go home, as our homes are outside Madinah.”
The Prophet remained steadfast with his companions, while the idolaters laid siege for nearly a month, without war breaking out between them, except for exchanges of arrows across the moat.
When things got worse and the Muslims were in real trouble, the Prophet sent a message to Uyaynah ibn Hisn and Al-Harith ibn Awf, the Ghatafan leaders offering them one third of Madinah’s crops if they withdrew their forces. This was agreed and written down, but neither signed nor witnessed. It was essentially a proposed arrangement. When the Prophet wanted to conclude the agreement, he called in Saad ibn Muadh, the chief of the Aws tribe, and Saad ibn Ubadah, the chief of the Khazraj tribe, consulting them on his proposal. They asked him: “God’s Messenger! Is this something you like and we would willingly do it, or something God has instructed you to do and we have no choice but to do it, or something you are doing for our sake?” He said: “I am doing it for you, because I see that the Arabs are united against you, attacking you from all sides. I only want to break the unity of your enemy for the present.” Saad ibn Muadh said: “Messenger of God, when we were, like these people, idolaters, unaware of any religion other than the worship of idols, they did not hope to get a single fruit from Madinah except as a present from us or if we sold it to them. Now that God has honored us with Islam and guided us to it and has given us the honor and strength of having you in our midst, would we willingly give them our goods? We have no need for this agreement. We will give them nothing but the sword until God makes His judgment between us.” The Prophet replied: “The matter is entirely up to you.” Then Saad took the sheet on which the agreement was written and erased the writing. He said: “Let them do their worst.”
Thereafter, the Prophet and his companions remained steadfast despite their fear of their enemies and the impending pincer attack they were sure would come.
Then a man from the Ghatafan called Nuaym ibn Masud came over to the Muslim camp and said to the Prophet: “Messenger of God, I am now a Muslim and my people are not aware of the fact. You may give me whatever orders you wish.” Keenly aware of the situation the Muslims were in, the Prophet said to Nuaym: “If you join us, you increase our number by one. But try, if you can, to dissuade the people from attacking us. War is but a successful trick.” (Nuaym did a splendid job creating mistrust between the three groups forming the confederate forces, the Quraysh, Ghatafan and Qurayzah. This is related in detail in books documenting the history of the period. Hence, we confine ourselves to simply referring to the results of his efforts.)
It was through God’s grace that the hostile forces’ unity of purpose did not last long. Furthermore, God sent them a very strong wind on a severely cold and wet night. Nothing remained stable in their tents.